the ex ceo mike lynch continues to defend the company's accounting practices. hewlett packard, a little higher in german trade this morning. but down by 20% of its value. >> not a pretty quarter for hewlett packard. >>> brent crude has climbed above the $100 a barrel mark as u.s. lawmakers attempt to avoid the fiscal cliff. but crude is poised to post its smallest gain in three years. wti is set to post its first annual last in four years. ian, welcome. we've seen this sharp decline in oil prices helping seek through to prices with a lot of americans in the last several weeks. when we look to 2013, should we expect a similar seasonal pattern which is to say a rally during the first part of the year? >> no. i'm not expecting a rally in the fist part of the year, to be honest. what we're still trying to take is the impact of shale oil, shale gas. and i think probably in 2012, the impact was -- or rather the implications of the impact were a much higher than expected. this year it's going to be interesting to see how the rest of the global acts with the new higher